Bayshore Tea Party Group Boasts of 1000 Members, Staunch Backers of Anna Little

Bayshore Tea Party Group member Frank Gonzalez, husband of the group’s co-founder, Barbara, installs homemade lawn signs on Rt 35 in Middletown during the 2013 Monmouth County Republican primary campaign

Bayshore Tea Party Group co-founder Barbara Gonzalez told HuffPost that her group has nearly 1000 members and that they are staunch supporters of former Highlands Mayor Anna Little’s quest to unseat Congressman Frank Pallone, in an article posted last evening.

“If you don’t get someone in who is totally willing to fight the establishment, it will never change,” Gonzalez told HuffPost.

Little lost to Pallone in 2010 and 2012 with BTPG’s support, but Gonzalez thinks it will be different this year.

Gonzalez said her membership roll has grown by “a couple of dozen new members” since earlier this month when the Bridgegate controversy broke.

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Monmouth Leaders Speak Out On Bridgegate, Christie’s Response.

We’re hearing plenty about Bridgegate and Governor Christie’s response to it from cable news pundits and late night comedians.  MMM thought it would be interesting to hear what our Monmouth County leaders, from both parties, have to say about the controversy and Christie’s response to it at his press conference last Thursday.

Sea Bright Mayor Dina Long, said “No, and I’m angry that some are tossing by name around as if I’m waffling about my endorsement,” when we asked her if she regretted endorsing Christie in light of the Bridgegate scandal. “Bridgegate is terrible, but it does not undue the Sandy recovery.  My endorsement was based on the Sandy recovery.   Let’s wait and see what happens when all the facts come out. Right now it’s a feeding frenzy.”

Senator Jennifer Beck said, “The governor has always straight forward me with, and he was forthcoming in his press conference on Thursday.  I believe him.”

Monmouth County Republican Chairman John Bennett said, “Governor Christie was open and sincere in his press conference.  He said that he will now talk to everyone on his staff himself to get to the bottom of what happened.  This issue may have gotten away from him because he departed from his usual practice of doing it all himself.

“Unfettered and overzealous politicos on Christie’s staff went way over the mark.  The lane closures were a bad, bad idea that never should have happened.”

Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal hasn’t returned our calls since we debunked his malicious and inaccurate attempted character assassination of a Red Bank Republican Council Candidate last October, so we asked his predecessor, Victor Scudiery, and the man who opposed him in the chairman’s race in 2011, Frank LaRocca to comment.

Former Monmouth Democratic Chairman Victor Scudiery said, “I take Chris Christie’s word for it. We’ll have to play it out and see what happens.  Everyone is jumping on the bandwagon, it’s frightening, but we have to wait and see.”

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Winners and Losers of 2013, Part One

Winners

January 2013 seems like a long time ago.

The years are supposed to go by faster as we get older.  2013 missed the memo, at least for me. President Obama’s second Inauguration and Freeholder John Curley’s second swearing in seem like a long time ago.

Selikia Joshia Gore started us off in 2013 with a timeless call to renew our humanity; the ongoing struggle of saints and sinners to love one another regardless of standing, status or creed.   It is a winning message that works only by embracing our failures without resigning to them.

The Governor. Governor Chris Christie started the year lambasting House Speaker John Boehner and the Congressional Republicans for playing politics with Superstorm Sandy aid and ended the year as the front runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. In between he built a bi-partisan and multi-cultural coalition that reelected him with over 60% of the vote in Blue Jersey.   Christie had the best year of any politician in America.  Only Pope Francis and Vladimir Putin had better years globally.

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez.  Menendez started the year on the losers list. Embroiled in a sandal of allegations of his cavorting with teenaged girls in the Dominican Republic and using the powers of his office to benefit the businesses of the donor who arranged the party, speculation was that he would resign as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, if not his Senate seat.  Menendez seems to have survived an FBI investigation into his relationship with Dr. Saloman Melgan unscathed.

At the end of the year, Menendez’s position seems secure. He is the leading, and most powerful, critic of President Obama’s foreign policy.   His approval ratings are net positive 22 points in the last Monmouth University Poll. He got engaged to be married earlier this month.

Given where he started, Menendez may have had the best 2013 of any New Jersey public figure, other than Christie.

The Gramiccionis.  The Wall Township power couple had a very good year.  In March, Christopher, the Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor and U.S. Naval Reserve Officer, received orders to report for a 9 month tour of active duty in Afghanistan effective in August.  Those orders were canceled in July, keeping Chris on the job fighting crime in Monmouth County and home for the holidays.  Deborah was appointed by Governor Christie to be the Deputy Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.  The job pays $289,657.

Monmouth County Republicans.  Sheriff Shaun Golden, Freeholder Director Tom Arnone and Deputy Director Serena DiMaso were always expected to be reelected on the strength of their records and due to the fact that Monmouth County Independent voters usually vote Republican.  They make the winners list by virtue of fact that they ran as if they were behind, not taking any votes for granted.  More importantly, they ran a positive campaign based on reducing spending, holding the line on taxes, and improving services, in the face of yet another negative campaign on the part of the Monmouth County Democrats.

Monmouth County’s Legislative Delegation.  Each member of Monmouth County’s Legislative Delegation deserves more recognition than space will allow.

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Meanest red-light cameras in N.J. pumped out thousands of citations in 2013

Meanest red-light cameras in N.J. pumped out thousands of citations in 2013 (via NJ.com)

We have found the meanest red light in New Jersey. It was two years ago when Alice Henry had her first encounter with it and she still tries to avoid the intersection that made her $85 poorer. “I either try to go a different route, or I go and stop…

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O’Scanlon Slams Rand Paul For Baseless Attack On Christie

By Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon

Yesterday Senator Rand Paul attacked NJ Governor Christie suggesting that the Governor’s landslide victory last week was the result of the federal aid package sent to NJ following superstorm Sandy.  

I occupy the unique combination of positions of Republican Assembly Budget Officer, long term fiscal conservative who has warned of New Jersey’s irresponsible spending polices for years, long-term advocate for reforms like pension benefit and collective bargaining reforms – and my District (13) covers the area of the bayshore hardest hit by the storm.

Unlike Senator Paul, I can state unequivocally – and based on first hand experience – that Governor Christie’s popularity wasn’t purchased with federal aid.  It was earned by tireless, extraordinary leadership on multiple crisis fronts from the moment Christie won election in 2009.  He inherited a state on the verge of insolvency, requiring reform solutions – pension and benefit, arbitration, property tax, budgetary – that no governor in the history of the state ever dreamed of tackling.  

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Municipal Races To Watch

The Battle of Monmouth is in the municipalities today.

Monmouth Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal is hoping to be the Gene Michael of politics. Michael, the New York Yankees General Manger in the early 1990’s, rebuilt the mediocre team back to dominant glory by focusing on new talent in the farm system.  As a player, Michael was a master of the hidden ball trick.  In baseball the hidden ball trick is when a position player fakes throwing the ball back to the pitcher after a play, only to tag out the base runner when he take a lead off the base.

Like Michael, Gopal is trying to build his farm team in Monmouth County municipal races, knowing he can’t win the big show in the short term, with an eye on future dominance of Monmouth County government and the State of New Jersey.  Also like Michael, Gopal always has a trick up his sleeve behind his youthful smile and pleasant demeanor.

Gopal hasn’t even fielded a team in 23 races in 16 Monmouth County towns.  Yet he has the press and New Jersey’s Democratic leadership convinced he’s building a future empire from the bottom up.

But if he doesn’t deliver the goods tonight, Gopal could end up as a Hardy Peterson, the Yankees General Manager who only lasted in the job for one year, 1990, instead of Michael, and find himself challenged for the county chairmanship when his first term ends in June.

The towns to watch tonight are Red Bank, Aberdeen, Eatontown, Highlands, Hazlet and Marlboro.

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Buono would raise sale taxes

Lost in the headlines of yesterday’s special election is the fact that State Senator Barbara Buono would not rule out raising New Jersey’s 7% sales tax, if elected governor, during her debate with Governor Chris Christie on Tuesday night.

Governor Christie noted that the Democrats, with Buono as the Senate Budget Chair, shut down New Jersey’s government in 2006 when Jon Corzine was governor, because they couldn’t agree how high to raise the sales tax.

Assembly Republican Budget Officer Declarn O’Scanlon issued the following statement regarding Buono’s  taxing vision for New Jersey:

“At a time when New Jersey is in the middle of an economic recovery, she has no concept of what a public policy disaster that proposal would be to creating jobs and maintaining our momentum. Increasing the sales tax is regressive and would further impact the most heavily taxed people in the country. It effectively sends the message to consumers to shop elsewhere and keeps New Jersey from being competitive with surrounding states. I am glad she no longer chairs the Senate Budget Committee. We are still trying to recover from the damage done to our economy.

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Storms and Fires Aren’t the Only Disasters Our Governor Has Led Us Through

By Assembly Declan O’Scanlon

While storms and fires can’t be ignored or missed as we go through the motions of our daily lives, one of the biggest threats to the well-being of our state was silently ignored – or even enhanced – by the folks supposedly in charge for the 8 years preceding Governor Christie’s election.  When Governor Christie took office our state was on the precipice of insolvency.  Governor Corzine and the folks leading the legislature – Barbara Buono amongst them – continued, either blindly or incompetently, to steer us toward utter disaster.  Some of you public workers still upset over the pension and benefits reforms that helped to dramatically turn our outlook around?  Get real.  The only alternative would have been huge, economy-strangling tax increases, or insolvency.  You don’t want to imagine the negative impact on your pensions – or our state’s economy – had that outcome become reality.

Yet that is exactly the outcome Governor Corzine and the Democrat legislative leadership were opting for.  Barbara Buono herself voted against the unquestionably necessary Christie administration reforms that have helped save our state.  She was also the Senate Budget Chairperson that authored resoundingly irresponsible budget after budget during the Corzine era – digging the hole deeper every step of the way.

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O’Scanlon Reiterates His Support Of Gay Marriage

Various news sources are reporting that Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth) has “broken with Governor Christie” over the issue of same sex marriage.

The news reports are inaccurate.

O’Scanlon was never “with” Governor Christie on the same sex marriage issue. He’s been on the record as favoring the Marriage Equality and Religious Exemptions Act since February of 2012 when the bill passed both houses of the legislature and was vetoed by Christie.

O’Scanlon was absent from the February 2012 vote because he was attending Senator Jennifer Beck’s wedding in Jamaica.   Upon his return to New Jersey, he told triCityNews that he would have voted for the bill had he been present and that he would vote to override Christie’s veto if it ever comes up for a vote.

triCityNews is not published online.  Publisher Dan Jacobson verified my recollection of O’Scanlon’s quotes on the phone this evening.

The issue is in the news again because marriage equality advocates have been in Trenton this week lobbying for an override of Christie’s veto before the end of the legislative session in January.

The Marriage Equality and Religious Exemptions Act passed the Senate with a vote of 24-16 and the Assembly by 42-33, with 5 Assembly members, including O’Scanlon and Mary Pat Angelini not voting.   An override requires a 2/3 affirmative vote.  In order for an override to succeed, the bill needs three additional yes votes in the Senate and 12 yes votes in the Assembly. O’Scanlon and Angelini represent two of the needed yes votes. Republican Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi of Bergen County also didn’t vote in 2012.  Schepisi said she would vote to override, leaving the bill needing 9 votes to pass in the Assembly.

If there is a override vote, it probably won’t occur until the “lame duck” session after the November election and before the new legislature takes office in January.

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Booker ♥ Red Light Cameras

 O’Scanlon gathers 4,000 signatures to stop Red Light Cameras  in only two weeks

The City of Newark is ripping off motorists with Red Light Cameras and Cory Booker loves the revenue.

Newark announced yesterday that the seven intersections in the city that have RLCs have seen a 64% decline in accidents since the cameras were installed four years ago, according the a report in The Star Ledger.

But Newark did not disclose the number of accidents at the intersection before or after the installations of the RLCs, which could make the percentages meaningless.  A Newark spokesman declined to elaborate.  Additionally, Newark has 19 intersections with RLC’s.  Their news release touted the results of only 7 intersections.

Booker said,

“Since their installation four years ago, our city’s red light cameras have been an effective mechanism in significantly reducing auto accidents at busy intersections,” Booker, a candidate for U.S. Senate in next month’s special election, said in a statement. “The investment in this technology has made our residents safer and served as a strong deterrent for people who may otherwise consider breaking traffic laws.”

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth), the state’s leading advocate against the Red Light Rip-offs  called Newark’s press release disingenuous.

Upon learning of their city’s bogus report hailing the success of RLCs, a group of residents gathered under a light, looked in the camera and started chanting, “We don’t want you here, We don’t want you here!”

Just kidding. Those guys were really heckling GOP nominee for U.S. Senate Steve Lonegan yesterday outside of Booker’s former abandoned property.

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